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Teenage Sex

Children and teens who engage in sexual behavior are at greater risk for emotional problems, pregnancy, dating violence, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). RAND studies have examined such topics as prevention and intervention strategies, virginity pledges, the influence of the media on adolescent sexual behavior, and the link between romantic teen relationships and later adult marriages.

Most successful schools demonstrate better retention and academic achievement. As a result, being admitted to or attending a successful school can reduce very risky health behaviors among low-income adolescents.

In this paper, the authors examine module theme in relationship to depressive symptoms reported during and post-treatment among clients receiving concurrent substance abuse treatment in either a residential or outpatient setting.

In a diverse group of early adolescents, this study explores the co-occurrence of a broad range of health risk behaviors: alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use; physical inactivity; sedentary computing/gaming; and the consumption of low-nutrient energy-dense food.

Racial disparities in late-life cognition persist even after accounting for educational attainment. We examined whether early-life educational quality and literacy in later life help explain these disparities.

American youth enjoy increasing access to television, movies, music, games, websites, and advertising—often on pocket-size devices. Given the prominent and growing role that media plays in the lives of U.S. children and adolescents, what effects do these conditions have on their health and well-being?

To examine the cost and cost-effectiveness of implementing Talking Parents, Healthy Teens, a worksite-based parenting program designed to help parents address sexual health with their adolescent children.

A new field called implementation science examines how to best support providers in taking up new, research-proven treatments and implementing them well. A RAND study will test how Boys & Girls Clubs carry out a program proven to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, with and without an intervention called Getting To Outcomes®.

Sexual health problems affect adolescents disproportionately more than adults, and efforts to improve their sexual health and decision making have not been fully successful. However, research integrating insights from neuroscience and other areas could increase our understanding of sexual risk behaviors among youth.

This study used a stage-based approach to understand condom use behavior in a representative sample of 309 sexually active homeless youth recruited from shelters, drop-in centers, and street sites in Los Angeles County.

A look at the Enhancing Quality Interventions Promoting Healthy Sexuality (EQUIPS) study, which tests how well a community-based setting (Boys & Girls Clubs) conducts a program to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Programming is often based on the assumption that young women only care about risk reduction when making decisions about sexual encounters. However, their most important goals are communicating clearly and avoiding unwanted sex.

Drop-in centers can play an important role in facilitating testing among homeless youth, including among injection drug users, but more outreach is needed to encourage testing in other at-risk subgroups.

Today's adolescents live in an unprecedented, media-rich environment. Technology has greatly increased the volume of available content, much of which can now fit in a pocket. RAND Health explores the growing role of media in determining adolescent health.

The authors developed this matrix of measures to summarize the state of measurement in the arena of new media use and its potential relationship with adolescent sexual risk behavior and sexual health and set the stage for further research efforts.

An expert panel was convened to develop a working knowledge base about the use of new media (the Internet, social networking sites, cell phones, online video games, MP3 players) among adolescents and the potential impact on their sexual health.

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Researcher Spotlight

Senior Behavioral Scientist

Rebecca Collins is a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. She also sits on RAND's Human Subjects Protection Committee. Her research examines the determinants and consequences of health risk behavior. Several current and recent projects focus on the effects of media on health. She…

Behavioral Scientist

Steven Martino is a behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. He is an expert in the application of cognitive and behavioral theory to understand the initiation and development of health and risk behaviors. Much of his research has focused on psychosocial aspects of adolescent substance use,…

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